MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy

MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is a whimsically charming adventure that'll make you wish you could attend its characterful academy. From its hilarious moments to its constantly rewarding tasks to tend to, it's hard not to love it.

MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is an entertaining experience that has a lot to offer for those wanting a fun and humorous time. These characters are hilarious, but the gameplay can get a bit repetitive.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is a good revival of a franchise with a pretty interesting legacy and that delivers a fun, if not very challenging, experience of a classic Dungeon RPG.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy has a fun school setting where you take classes to learn new spells. Plus, who doesn’t love Carbuncle?

All in all, the game is serviceable for what it is, but the tone of the game throws me for a loop, and the dungeon-crawling aspects aren't that interesting to warrant bouncing back and forth from dungeon to school and back again for multiple sessions. While the game is retailing at $50, I still feel that this game is a little too expensive for what it offers. This feels like the perfect game to grab on sale, rather than rushing out to the store and getting it immediately on launch. That said, there's still enough here to satisfy people with a deep urge for dungeon crawling or anime slapstick, I suppose.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy has so much personality, and if you’re familiar with the series or this style of game, I think you’ll have a lot of fun. The upbeat, quirky sense of humour is a real selling point for me, and though I found the gameplay loop a little repetitive, I was laughing and smiling all the way through it.

Fia and her band of lovable disasters in Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy might not cast the deepest spells, but they’ve got just enough magic to keep things moving. The dungeon crawling is light, the combat mildly engaging, and the school life fluff adds just enough variety to break up the loop. Thankfully, it’s all wrapped in a silly, self-aware package that leans into its anime logic and wears it proudly. There’s not much depth to uncover, but you might end up smiling more than you’d expect.

There’s an undertone of frustration within Mado Monogatori: Fia and the Wondrous Academy. It is a colourful, magical world, with a charismatic cast of characters who have some of the best comedic situations in an RPG. Unfortunately, combat is just so basic and quick that it feels better to avoid it to just experience more of the world. Luckily, this group of colourful comedians’ antics are funny and charming enough that there’s still a fun adventure to be had.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is hard to recommend because of its dull gameplay, sloppy combat, repetitive enemies, uninspired dungeons and lacking plotline. It does have a few bright sparks within its three main characters and anime aesthetic, though. For some reason, this game keeps bringing you back, so it must be doing something right, despite all of its downfalls. It's just hard to figure out why. It may be the camaraderie between the characters and wanting to see them succeed in their adorable, magical academic journey.

Despite not completely lacking in fun, MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy stops short of doing anything interesting with its academy life sim elements or its dungeon crawling. Try-hard ‘funny’ dialogue waffles for too long, academy activities is largely messing around in menus, and dungeons are one-note and house the same enemies and traps that don’t offer a true challenge. If this is your very first dungeon crawler and you’re under the age of twelve, you might find enough fun to get you to the end, but for everyone else, this one will likely lie unfinished on the shelf after the first five hours.